Post race quotes: Grand Prix of Road America.

Driver quotes following the Grand Prix of Road America - won by Alex Tagliani, his first Champ Car victory.

Alex Tagliani - race winner:
#8 Johnson Controls Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone

I feel good. I mean, this is a race that I really led in 2000. So it was not easy. The last six laps after the restart, I was kind of worried a little bit. And I was not going to just think that it was going to be easy until I saw the white flag. Maybe, you know, today honestly we got a little bit lucky with the way the yellow turned out in the race. But many races this year we were unlucky.

In Monterrey, we passed basically every car on the racetrack in the first stint, and we end up losing position at the pit exchange. You know, I think it takes a really fast car, good strategy, little bit of luck to be able to win a race in this series. And I think today all the ingredients were there. So, you know, we're really proud at Rocketsports and really happy for Johnson Controls that has been a supporter of this team for many years, and two years in Champ Car.

Rodolfo Lavin - finished second:
#3 Corona Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone

It feels great. I've been working for this many, many years, you know, since I was in the series level, in the Atlantics, all that. We just been working very, very hard. Thanks to my sponsor Corona, they've been sponsoring me for many years; pretty close to 11 years they've been supporting me. I am very thankful to them and obviously very thankful to the team to the Forsythe Racing Team. They have given me a great car, great tools to fight out there. I think we've been performing pretty well.

Last race in Vancouver, we qualified on the front row, we qualified second. We knew, you know, it was coming. It was just case of keeping, you know, us out of trouble all day and making consistent lap times. And we got second place today. I'm very pleased with the team. Mr. Gerry Forsythe been great to me by giving me this great opportunity to drive for his team. Everybody in the team is great. I'm very, very happy to be here and to be in second place.

Sebastien Bourdais - finished third:
#2 McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone

Well, I don't really know what to think about this race really because there have been so many things that I don't know what happened myself. All I know is we were leading the race. We had a good car. Then this yellow came out at the wrong moment. When I restarted the thing, the pace car was in the middle of the racetrack on 14, and I've never seen that. So I have no idea what happened. So Tracy passed Bruno straight away when the green flag was thrown. Tracy was right in my gearbox, and he passed me. As a matter of fact, trying to pass me, he touched me. He bent my front suspension, my left front suspension, and my car was very difficult after that to drive. Then I just had a pretty difficult day from now on.

I tried to hang down there. But Bruno was next on the list. He tried to go by. Absolutely tried not to oppose any resistance, I just kept my line. He had one wheel snuck between the curb and my car, and we've had contact again. So now I had both the left front and the right rear bent, so the thing was not looking very good at all. From then I just didn't know what to think anymore. I had a terrible time to drive the car. I just tried as hard as I could. I had a terrible time in the braking, especially inside. I got passed by a couple of people; I passed a bunch of people. And here I am on the podium, and I have no idea what happened in between. All I know is the team has been very intelligent and very smart. That worked out for us today. But really I think I have to watch this race again, because I cannot put everything in order really.

Ryan Hunter-Reay - finished fourth:
#4 Herdez Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone

I had a good finish considering what a crazy race it was. The guys did a great job in the pits and we had a good car for the race, the best car we have had all weekend. On the first lap Vasser ran me off the back straight. Then I had the inside line into Canada corner and he completely turned in on me. It sent us both to the back and made it a tough day on Carpentier. It was a lot of work out there and a strange day for sure, but I am happy for the top five and glad to take the points to Denver.

Mario Dominguez - finished fifth:
#55 Herdez Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone

With all of strange strategies that played out with the pitting under green rules, it was a tough race to know what was going on. At one point we were in the back of the pack but Mike [Cannon, Engineer] managed to get us back up to the front. The car was good and I was faster than a lot of cars. I'll take the points for fifth. We had good clean stop, I never really knew how it was going to play out, but my tires held up really well and I was consistent all day.

Justin Wilson - finished seventh, top rookie:
#34 Mi-Jack Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone

We were having a good race, but then encountered a suspension issue that hurt us. With all that has happened to us in the last three races, my finishing position is very welcome. Overall, however, I must say I am fairly disappointed, since we could have had our first podium finish today.

Jimmy Vasser - finished eighth:
#12 Gulfstream Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone

That was a wild, wild, wild race. I can tell you that. Bruno [Junqueira] passed me on the start and then I passed him back in the first few turns. I think we went from third to second to third and then back to fourth all in the first lap. On top of that, I almost crashed twice before getting spun around in turn twelve. The PKV guys really did a good job today. They were busy, that's for sure. But to get an eighth-place run out of the Gulfstream car and hold our position in the points today isn't terrible, with all things considered.

Michel Jourdain Jr - finished ninth:
#9 Gigante Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone

It's a shame today went the way it did because we had a good race car. I had a good start and felt good settling into the race. But what it comes down to, is that unfortunately there were a lot of yellows and our strategy was just not the right one for how the flags fell today to get in our pit stops under green conditions. As always, we are a new team and we will learn from this and move on.

Guy Smith - finished tenth:
#17 Rocketsports Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone

My first Champ Car race was all and more than I expected. It was a tremendous challenge and I'm pleased to have finished, but a little disappointed too. I wanted a better finish, but as it was really only our first weekend working together and as a team, we did reasonably well. My goal was to finish the race and take advantage of the yellows late in the race especially because the car got better as the race progressed. The #17 Rocketsports crew gave me a great car that performed well. I'm looking forward to Denver and building on what I've learned today here at Elkhart.

A.J. Allmendinger - finished 13th:
#10 Western Union Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone

With all of the yellows, we had a really tough time getting in the three required 'green' pit stops. Our strategy to get them done just didn't play out like we hoped and the car wasn't handling all that great. Then I got under Paul [Tracy] and just spun. It was my mistake.

I'm really disappointed in myself and had hoped I could've done better to represent the 'Live Strong, Wear Yellow' campaign for the Lance Armstrong Foundation today. I know we were capable of a much better result here.

Roberto Gonzalez - finished 16th:
#21 Nextel Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone

It was a nightmare of a race. [Mario] Haberfeld slowed at the start and I was forced to check up, which allowed two or three cars by me at the start. I was fighting my way from there until the rear end locked up and I spun out. I'm still not sure if it was a result of contact or not. So we ended up in the gravel, which resulted in a pop off valve issue that we later had to come in and change. It was a tough day for me for sure, but we'll keep going and hopefully have better luck in Denver next weekend.

Alex Sperafico - finished 17th:
#14 Mi-Jack Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone

Things were going our way early in the race, and the car felt good. Michel [Jourdain] tried to pass me, hit me, and punctured my tyre. I lost control of the car, and got off-track, which put me in the back of the field. After that, I just tried to run hard, and ended up spinning, which hurt me even more.